Should I Buy For Repair And Old Laptop Reddit
I have a Lenovo ThinkPad T510 purchased about six years ago. I'm perfectly happy with it, except the keyboard needs replacing and batteries seem to lose their ability to charge within a couple of years. The keyboard and battery could be replaced for less than $100. Other than those factors, is there any reason to replace the auto? If I buy a Windows ten motorcar, could I or should I continue to run Windows seven on it? Pablo
There is no universal answer to your start question. The fourth dimension to sell, repurpose or recycle an old PC depends on a big number of factors. Some are technical, such as the specification, the build quality, and whether it volition really run Windows 10. Some are personal, such as what you use it for, how much coin you can spare, and whether your fourth dimension has whatever value.
Circumstances alter cases. It might not be worth replacing a very onetime PC that's merely used for personal emails, peculiarly if the user is short of cash. On the other hand, it could brand sense for a visitor to supplant a loftier-spec car that is merely a few months sometime if time is extremely valuable, as it can be in financial organisations.
However, your second question is easy. Windows 7 was launched in 2009, and reaches the end of its supported life in January 2020. After that, there will be no more security patches except for the companies able and willing to pay. I understand that Windows 7 Extended Security Updates for Windows Enterprise Edition will cost $25 per device for the first year, $50 for the 2d yr and $100 for the third yr. Windows 7 Pro charges are twice that, merely yet only half the typical charges for extending Windows XP support.
Given that Windows ten Pro tin be fix to look and work much similar Windows 7 Pro, it makes no sense to pay to extend Windows seven'south life unless your business admittedly depends on it.
Fifty-fifty if you disregard the security risk, it's a bad thought to try to run Windows seven on hardware designed for Windows 10. Manufacturers don't examination their machines with obsolete operating systems. Even parts on the QVL (Qualified Vendor List) are not guaranteed to work.
I am not saying it tin can't be done. I am maxim you should avoid it as an unnecessary risk.
Six and out
I replaced my previous laptop and desktop PCs when they were six years old, and I think this is a sensible strategy. Sometime machines may still work, but usually they will accept been left backside past technological advances. In your example, the T510 is missing the UEFI organization that provides fast outset-upwardly, Thousand.2 slots for faster SSD modules, USB-C or Thunderbolt for faster connections, improve on-chip graphics with video back up, a camera for Windows Howdy confront-recognition log-on, and so on. You lot're also missing out on a touch on screen with tablet and pen capabilities.
Of course, you lot tin improve the performance of your Lenovo ThinkPad T510 by adding more memory and swapping the original difficult drive for a fast SSD. Not everybody tin. We've all seen the trend towards sealed cases, soldered-in memory and storage chips, glued-in batteries and so on. These make laptops more than expensive to repair or upgrade, and therefore more than dispensable.
Old PCs besides eat more than ability, which makes them more than expensive to run. Mid-range processors have not get dramatically faster, though having (usually) more cores does mean they work more smoothly. For the by decade, Intel has focused on providing more performance per Watt, rather than more raw performance. A typical laptop processor now runs at a TDP of almost 15W, going downwards to 6W, instead of 35W or 45W. These new processors generate less oestrus, then they can be used in thinner, lighter and more portable laptops. Lower power consumption also provides longer battery life.
Incidentally, I don't experience bad near retiring laptops after half-dozen years, partly because I used to retire them after iii years. My laptops do a lot of useful work and generally cost most the same as or less than smartphones that do less useful piece of work and only last half as long.
As well, I value my time, peculiarly as I get closer to my own end-of-life recycling bespeak. Some people think they are saving resources by using old machines that can't cope with dozens (or hundreds) of browser tabs, take ages to download bloated spider web pages, are slow to load programs or copy files or whatever. That's a waste of human resources. I won't waste mine.
ThinkPad T510 pros and cons
The fifteen.6in ThinkPad T510 was a premium product designed for corporate employ, and far better made than the average laptop was back then, or is today. It appeared around the end of 2010, then the design is ix years old. Its premium features included a Firewire 400 port, which you probably don't utilise. The main problem is that it's not on Lenovo's Windows 10-compatible list. However, some people have managed to install the 1903 version, so you could download it and take a become. If it installs, your Windows 7 product code should cosign information technology, so you lot won't accept to pay for information technology. And if all else fails, you could install Linux.
Sadly, even if your ThinkPad T510 runs Windows 10, it has a lot of limitations. These include the screen resolution (1366 x 768 pixels), slow USB two ports, the fairly slow drive speed (SATA two is 3Gbps not 6Gbps; no M.two slot), the lack of retention (8GB is the max), and the slow CPU.
The T510 is, equally mentioned, upgradeable. You lot accept 6GB of retentiveness and then information technology's probably not worth replacing a 2GB simm with a 4GB module to raise that to 8GB. However, it would be worth swapping the hard drive for a 250GB or 500GB SSD, costing $49.99 or $66.99 at Crucial's US site. Yous may be able to observe cheaper alternatives where you alive in Mexico. An SSD would make a pregnant departure to your laptop'due south responsiveness.
Unfortunately, you cannot do anything about the showtime generation Core i5-540M, though it has held up pretty well. The i5-540M has a Passmark score of 2,452, which is the bare minimum for running Windows ten at a usable speed. Basically, it'due south every bit fast as today'south Intel Pentium Silvery N5000, which is a cheap, battery-efficient 6W chip. The Core i5-540M has a TDP of 35W.
If you were to purchase something similar the T510 today, you'd probably get a 15W Core i5-8265U or ameliorate. I regard the i5-8265U equally the starting point for serious laptops, and information technology has a Passmark score of 8,000. It has four cores and eight threads, where your i5-540M has two cores and four threads. Co-ordinate to the UserBenchmark website, the i5-8265U is 141% faster, and if y'all're using all the threads, information technology's three times every bit fast. You would discover the difference.
Options?
If you don't want to spend a lot of money, put what you lot would accept spent on your T510 towards a refurbished ThinkPad with a much more recent processor, such as the T440 or the X250.
If you want to supersede your T510 with today's equivalent, I'd go for the 14in T490s rather than the fifteen.6in T590. That would get you a Core i5 or i7 processor, 8GB or 16GB of memory, a option of SSDs from 128GB to 1TB, a good Full HD (1920 x 1080-pixel) screen and a great selection of ports including USB-C/Thunderbolt 3. It's 16.7mm thin and weighs ane.35kg, where your T510 is more twice equally thick (35.8mm) and more than twice as heavy (2.8kg).
There are, obviously, much sexier options, such as the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, and the Yoga C940 with its 10th-generation Core processor.
Simply anyone spending that sort of money could put off purchasing a new laptop for nearly a year or so, because dual-screen machines expect like the coming thing. The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo UX581 is a stunning piece of work, while the 14in ZenBook Duo UX481 is a more portable, and more than affordable, alternative. Last week, Microsoft previewed its own dual screen machines, the Surface Neo Windows laptop and the Surface Duo Android phone, due about a year from now.
Microsoft and Asus accept been messing around with "auxiliary displays" since at least 2005. Asus showed a prototype hinged, dual-screen ebook reader in 2009, and the Microsoft Courier attracted some attending before it was cancelled in 2010. More recently, Lenovo had a go with the Lenovo Book, which transitioned from Windows to Android.
I've seen a lot of terrible machines, just the Surface Duo looks like the existent bargain. I await all the leading manufacturers to launch their own versions, which will found it every bit a new course cistron, equally happened with the Surface Pro. I wouldn't be shocked to see a dual-screen iPad…
Have you got a question? Electronic mail it to Enquire.Jack@theguardian.com
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This article was amended on ten October to correct the description of the Surface Neo and Surface Duo
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2019/oct/10/should-i-fix-my-six-year-old-laptop-or-replace-it
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